Can you do Riko, Alex, Murasakibara and Himuro and as many of your OCs as you would like? 😁
Ooh, what an interesting set of characters, thanks a lot! 🩶
Riko
How I feel about this character
Riko is da best KnB girl for me. Smart, driven, not too girlish, not too tomboyish, just the right amount of everything. Plus unapologetically fond of cute stuff all while bossing around a bunch of guys twice her size, lol More on my thoughts on her here
All the people I ship romantically with this character
Teppei! Kiyoriko was actually my first knb OTP, and I still LOVE these two. How they kind of complete each other character-wise. Fujimaki dropping a bomb that they used to date made me feel both vindicated and sad, cause WTF did you mean 'used to'? Touched on them more here
My non-romantic OTP for this character
Alex. I honestly wished they'd have more interactions on coaching methods and the game in general.
My unpopular opinion about this character
That she and Hyuuga are a shit couple, both too much of the same stubborn, hot tempered and not exactly flexible folks. I could see them dating but it will not last.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
I think she and Momoi should've gotten along more than they did, and their whole 'boob' rivalry was a dumb trope to put these smart ladies thru.
Alex
How I feel about this character
I like Alex. Coach-wise she feels like one of the most competent ones in the series, especially given the joy of the game she managed to share and preserve with Kagami and Himuro. Something that isn't granted, especially in knb, where every other basketball club is a torture chamber for the willing, lol More on her here
All the people I ship romantically with this character
None? I'm sure some of the people in the manga have a crush on her, but I don't really see her with anyone.
My non-romantic OTP for this character
Riko here, like mentioned above. Alex's less dogmatic view on basketball could really widen Riko's perspective on the game.
My unpopular opinion about this character
I'm very disappointed in the reading comprehension of those accusing Alex of inappropriate behavior towards Kagami and Himuro. People, please, for the love of fucking whatever you hold dear, read about comic relief and making fun of stereotypes based on ones nationality.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
I would honestly love to see her interactions with Araki (Yosen's coach), cause it has such comedy potential. One proper serious Japanese lady, and the other is a cheerful, carefree American one. Kind of Kagami and Kuroko vibes from these two.
Murasakibara
How I feel about this character
My lovely giant purple hamster :D I think he's great. Dude just trying to put his physical abilities that he didn't have a say about to play to his advantage. Being this tall at his age in Japan must be all levels of hell inconvenient. Plus, it tends to come with a bunch of health issues, so no wonder my guy is just willing to chill all the time, lol
All the people I ship romantically with this character
I don't think I actually have any sort of ship involving Mukkun
My non-romantic OTP for this character
No OTPs but I do think both Akashi and Himuro kind of 'adopt' Mukkun in terms of dragging him around. And Okamura (Yosen's former captain) teaching him moves was kinda touching, so I headcanon him keeping tabs on him after graduation/
My unpopular opinion about this character
I don't think people honestly understand how good of a player he is, and what a monster of a player he could be.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
I wish Fujimaki expanded on Mukkun's conscious effort not to injure others. It is very hard to do in the heat of the game, and requires a very good control of your body and spatial awareness. Oh, and he should've wear ponytail more often, lol
Himuro
How I feel about this character
Our resident emo-boy, lol Himuro is a bit weird to me. I dislike how Fujimaki really tried hard to make him Mr. Perfect as opposed to Kagami's Mr. Chaotic. A little too cool, too pretty, can fight, can play the ball, you name it. And only one bad quality is him being completely shitty with directions\maps, lol
Himuro, all while being this Mr. Perfect somehow ignores all his virtues and focuses only on his shortcomings, which is losing to Kagami in basketball. And given his pride and diligence, it must've hurt, all those efforts were still not enough to tame a wildfire that is Taiga. But what I find to be a very nice little thing, how Himuro, despite being the one to call Kagami brother, is the one that was not able to truly be happy for the growth of his younger brother, even knowing that Himuro was, in many ways, the inspiration to Taiga (an interesting parallel here with Miyaji brothers where we see Yuuya following Kiyoshi’s footsteps faster than he did, and Kiyoshi being chill, at least source material had exactly zero instances of Miyaji showing any sort of jealousy towards his younger brother, unlike the situation with Himuro\Kagami). This tells on how inadequate and insecure he feels deep down, and I always wondered why. Because this insecurity plays very well into him constantly trying to put on a spotless facade, so that others won't start to poke holes into his wounds. And Kagami's superior presence does just that, reminding Himuro of his shortcomings.
All the people I ship romantically with this character
Nobody
My non-romantic OTP for this character
Mukkun, I feel like he's a pretty inoffensive guy for him to drag along, keeps his ego mostly intact, and can be bribed with chips, lol. And I kind of have him and Fukui keeping contact after graduation. Still undecided on his interactions with Niji
My unpopular opinion about this character
That as soon as Himuro would resolve his inner problems, and just let himself be, and would rediscover his love for the game, and would reconcile with Kagami, he would only then unlock his full potential and go on GoM's level, in the zone, etc. He is THAT good, that skilled, that diligent and gifted. But his weakness isn't physical, it's mental and it fundamentally hinders his development because he himself can't let it go.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
Fujimaki is an absolute ass at portrayal of non-GoM characters. Doing all the hype-up for the hard work over talent only for it to be miserably defeated by talent either way. And while yes, talent+work often renders better results than just repetition\muscle memory\hard work (I get now why compared Himuro to Sen, the same muscle memory skill) oftentimes talent tends to slack at work. And in sports there're just too many variables: injuries, health conditions, mentality, luck, etc. So having this big of a gap between talent and lack of it is unrealistic and sends a shitty message. So Himuro here, alongside pretty much all 3rd years should've had WAY more flowers given to them. And GoM and Seirin should've had more problems with others and lost more often.
I also wonder if Kagami ever called Tatsuya as "Tetsuya" by mistake and what was Himuro's reaction, lol
As for OCs, I'll limit myself here with one OC and one semi-OC from KnB, and given our recent Takao talks, I'll go with Reina (drop me a message if you want me to do the other main two ladies ;)
Reina
How I feel about this character
Reina is the second KnB OC that came about 4-5 years ago as reflection of how unstoppable talent and hard work capitulate under the life's circumstances one has zero control over. I just wanted basically a female equivalent of GoM in a different sport, but her path was brutally cut short right before one of the main events of her life, The Olympics (yeah, we're shooting to the stars here). And bam, suddenly all of your hard work, talent, success and aspirations are gone down the drain, they're no longer applicable to you, so what's left? What's next? How does one adjust to life after life? I wanted it to be both depressing and uplifting, lol
All the people I ship romantically with this character
First of all, Takao. Unlike most other ladies around him, she understands what a laser focus on smth is, and can even offer guidance on certain aspects of the sports regimen for him not to suffer as much physically. She's very... disillusioned, but in a tired\scared not bitter way. Is very calm, kind of socially awkward. A lot of similarities with Midorima here but she's way more cohesive in human interactions, and will not be attached to Takao in a semi-permanent fashion cause it just gives me suffocating vibes.
And secondly, her former junior at kindergarten, with whom they share a peculiar parenting pattern and somewhat similar 'exotic' hair color (different shades of red, Reina's being more into orange territory) - Akashi. She was often a role-model to him, but she moved out of country at a young age to train and they lost contact, only to meet again in high school with a big "holy shit what the hell happened to you" vibes. :D
My non-romantic OTP for this character
My two other OCs: Mika, her childhood friend and Shutoku's manager, and Chiya, her classmate. Akina too, they'll meet in physical therapy and will keep in touch, especially after Akina becomes Kaijo's manager. And Midorima, cause they both kind of facepalm from Takao to different degrees.
I guess the other two questions aren't applicable here but here's Reina picrew to compensate. ;)
Yuuya Miyaji
How I feel about this character
Not an OC but we know very little about him in canon. Yuuya is someone constantly fighting for recognition and his own self. He's only a few years younger than Kiyoshi but is always the "junior", in the shadow of a very loud, memorable brother that is hard to keep up with cause Kiyoshi is over-achiever (the only guy in Shutoku being allowed to train during exams in canon). Yuuya picked up basketball cause Kiyoshi was forced to look over his younger bro and started to use him as a training partner eventually. So most of his basketball stuff used to be Kiyoshi's, his basketball pals knew him as Kiyoshi's younger bro, in Shutoku he is Miyaji jr. till Kiyoshi's graduation, you get. HOWEVER, this gave Yuuya an edge of starting earlier than Kiyoshi and with tougher opponents from the get go (most were his brother's age), which lead to Yuuya going into sports-oriented middle school that Kiyoshi did not, and that's why Yuuya was a starter in his first year and captain by his second (this differs from canon because I couldn't just keep a 7 month birth difference between Kiyoshi and Yuuya that is somehow canon, and Yuuya is magically a Shutoku's captain in 3rd year despite us not seeing him even once in knb... What is planning, amiright, Fujimaki-sensei? :D) Yuuya also really tries to differ from Kiyoshi in other areas, different style in hair and clothing (more of a sporty looks than Kiyoshi's classic one), music preferences (hates j-idols), food, hobbies (even though both of them like video games), etc but at some point he has stop and think if those are his actual preferences or something he choose to differentiate from his older brother? Yuuya and Kiyoshi bicker on a semi-permanent basis with superficial physical fights but it's just their norm. They genuinely care and admire one another but will absolutely not acknowledge that in any public way, lol
All the people I ship romantically with this character
Tae Ootsubo and Chiya. This will be the most non-dramatic, awkward yet truly caring triangle with hints of longing, regret and sadness. With a happy ending for everyone involved ;)
My non-romantic OTP for this character
Takao and Kimura's little brother. With Kimura's bro they met in that sports middle school and have been pals since then but Yuuya is 1 year older. With Takao they're classmates, on top of being teammates, plus their gfs at that time were friends, and they have a shared love for card games, so they do hang out together a decent amount.
My unpopular opinion about this character
I don't think he has any popular opinions to begin with, lol I guess that I made him the same age as Takao and Midorima, otherwise he'd be only 7 months younger than Kiyoshi, which is problematic, given that pregnancy lasts for 9 :D
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
Him actually being shown as a part of the team like Nakamura in Kaijo? As a frequent sub and not as an afterthought in epilogue. And wish we had something on him and Tae in canon other than him having her photo ;)
